After a brief period with Darren Aronofsky at the helm, James Mangold was eventually handed the task of resurrecting the standalone Wolverine series, four years after Gavin Hood's risibly daft prequel, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, nearly killed the character stone dead.

Whether or not it is too soon to reboot to the Spider-man series just five years after Sam Raimi went out with a whimper in the wake of 2007's wearily disappointing Spider-Man 3, box office allure and fans' desire to see a post-Nolan web slinger have resulted in an early return for Marvel's most famous franchise.